O.G. Rose | 19. The Meaning Crisis as a Sign of Hope by O.G. Rose @O.G.Rose.Michelle.and.Daniel | Uploaded April 2024 | Updated October 2024, 4 hours ago.
Pick up a copy of "Belonging Again" by O.G. Rose today!
amazon.com/Belonging-Again-Explanation-Part-I-ebook/dp/B0C4M1F9WX?ref_=ast_author_dp
“The Meaning Crisis,” as John Vervaeke calls it, is a pressing problem which is discussed extensively throughout O.G. Rose. “Explained and Addressed” focuses on it, and Belonging Again is a sociological exploration of the consequences civilization faces when it lacks “givens” according to which it can organize its actions (for good and for bad). Our situation is arguably dire, as I agree there is reason to think, but here I want to suggest a way that the crisis can be seen in a more positive light. Here, I want to argue that the Meaning Crisis partially exists because humanity no longer settles for old solutions, which is to say that we now hold ourselves to higher standards.
We often discuss the Meaning Crisis like civilization walked down a few roads, took a wrong turn, and now finds itself at a dead end. We turn around and find the way we came closed off. We’re stuck, and we have no idea what to do. Metaphorically, at least, this is how I think most of us think about the Meaning Crisis: it strikes us as a room we can’t escape, hopeless. But I submit that this is not the case: we in fact do know how to solve the Meaning Crisis. We have centuries of examples, and we could employ them whenever we liked. In fact, some groups of people and tribes are employing “classic solutions” to the problem, but many of us view those people as doing something wrong and immoral. It’s not that we don’t know how to solve the Meaning Crisis; instead, it’s that we refuse to solve the Crisis as civilizations in the past did. What do I mean? Well, just look back on history: there are lots of solutions to the Meaning Crisis. Here are some examples:
Nationalism
Fundamentalism
Racism
Bigotry
Thoughtlessness
Isolationism
Closed-Mindedness
War
Violence
All of these are live options for us right now, but because we don’t accept these “solutions” anymore, we are suffering a Meaning Crisis. I think this is an important framing, because we tend to view the Meaning Crisis as purely negative, as a kind of dilemma resulting from careless stupidity—whenever the topic comes up, the tone is one that reflects a sentiment of, “What have we gotten ourselves into?” (that’s how I hear it, at least). I would like to complexify that framing and suggest that, arguably thanks to a moral evolution, we have chosen to suffer our crisis. It is not simply something we have stumbled carelessly into, but something we have decided to suffer because we demand ourselves to do better. Perhaps this puts us in a situation where we never overcome the Meaning Crisis (I don’t know), but if this is the case, I think we can view ourselves as willing to “go down fighting” versus resort back to racism, nationalism, and other past sins.
The counter to this could be that we really can’t choose racism, war, closed-mindedness, or the like anymore, because our civilization has advanced to a place where these options are thankfully no longer allowed, but that only strengthens the point: these options are possible but not accepted. We have imposed a restriction on ourselves. Now, today, these options are a “yes/no,” meaning we “could” do them and yet won’t “allow” ourselves to do them. We are like people in the past standing up for justice who “could” have back downed when the powerful told them to withdraw and yet wouldn’t “allow” themselves to backdown, aware that they would lose the fight for righteousness and justice if they did. Similarly, we really could indulge in nationalism and bigotry if we let the Meaning Crisis get to us, but we are doing everything in power to not allow ourselves to give into that temptation. We’re fighting. We’re fighting to keep the gains we’ve made through history.
A concern of O.G. Rose has been to find new sources of meaning for our Globalized and Pluralistic world (centered often on the question of “intrinsic motivation”), because I do not deny that “The Meaning Crisis” requires us to find such sources. Indeed, we are existentially suffering as a result of losing meaning, as to some degree reflected in our collapsing mental health. Again, I don’t mean to deny that: here, I simply want to suggest that there is something hopeful and noble about “The Meaning Crisis”: its existence is a testament to our unwillingness to compromise on what we believe is right...
For the whole piece, please visit:
medium.com/p/e38497d31b91
Substack:
open.substack.com/pub/ogrose/p/the-meaning-crisis-as-a-sign-of-hope-e38497d31b91?r=nqh4n&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web
For more on the subject, please see "Is Putin a Thomas More Who Caved?":
open.substack.com/pub/ogrose/p/is-putin-a-thomas-more-who-caved?r=nqh4n&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web
For more by O.G. Rose, visit:
og-rose.com
Pick up a copy of "Belonging Again" by O.G. Rose today!
amazon.com/Belonging-Again-Explanation-Part-I-ebook/dp/B0C4M1F9WX?ref_=ast_author_dp
“The Meaning Crisis,” as John Vervaeke calls it, is a pressing problem which is discussed extensively throughout O.G. Rose. “Explained and Addressed” focuses on it, and Belonging Again is a sociological exploration of the consequences civilization faces when it lacks “givens” according to which it can organize its actions (for good and for bad). Our situation is arguably dire, as I agree there is reason to think, but here I want to suggest a way that the crisis can be seen in a more positive light. Here, I want to argue that the Meaning Crisis partially exists because humanity no longer settles for old solutions, which is to say that we now hold ourselves to higher standards.
We often discuss the Meaning Crisis like civilization walked down a few roads, took a wrong turn, and now finds itself at a dead end. We turn around and find the way we came closed off. We’re stuck, and we have no idea what to do. Metaphorically, at least, this is how I think most of us think about the Meaning Crisis: it strikes us as a room we can’t escape, hopeless. But I submit that this is not the case: we in fact do know how to solve the Meaning Crisis. We have centuries of examples, and we could employ them whenever we liked. In fact, some groups of people and tribes are employing “classic solutions” to the problem, but many of us view those people as doing something wrong and immoral. It’s not that we don’t know how to solve the Meaning Crisis; instead, it’s that we refuse to solve the Crisis as civilizations in the past did. What do I mean? Well, just look back on history: there are lots of solutions to the Meaning Crisis. Here are some examples:
Nationalism
Fundamentalism
Racism
Bigotry
Thoughtlessness
Isolationism
Closed-Mindedness
War
Violence
All of these are live options for us right now, but because we don’t accept these “solutions” anymore, we are suffering a Meaning Crisis. I think this is an important framing, because we tend to view the Meaning Crisis as purely negative, as a kind of dilemma resulting from careless stupidity—whenever the topic comes up, the tone is one that reflects a sentiment of, “What have we gotten ourselves into?” (that’s how I hear it, at least). I would like to complexify that framing and suggest that, arguably thanks to a moral evolution, we have chosen to suffer our crisis. It is not simply something we have stumbled carelessly into, but something we have decided to suffer because we demand ourselves to do better. Perhaps this puts us in a situation where we never overcome the Meaning Crisis (I don’t know), but if this is the case, I think we can view ourselves as willing to “go down fighting” versus resort back to racism, nationalism, and other past sins.
The counter to this could be that we really can’t choose racism, war, closed-mindedness, or the like anymore, because our civilization has advanced to a place where these options are thankfully no longer allowed, but that only strengthens the point: these options are possible but not accepted. We have imposed a restriction on ourselves. Now, today, these options are a “yes/no,” meaning we “could” do them and yet won’t “allow” ourselves to do them. We are like people in the past standing up for justice who “could” have back downed when the powerful told them to withdraw and yet wouldn’t “allow” themselves to backdown, aware that they would lose the fight for righteousness and justice if they did. Similarly, we really could indulge in nationalism and bigotry if we let the Meaning Crisis get to us, but we are doing everything in power to not allow ourselves to give into that temptation. We’re fighting. We’re fighting to keep the gains we’ve made through history.
A concern of O.G. Rose has been to find new sources of meaning for our Globalized and Pluralistic world (centered often on the question of “intrinsic motivation”), because I do not deny that “The Meaning Crisis” requires us to find such sources. Indeed, we are existentially suffering as a result of losing meaning, as to some degree reflected in our collapsing mental health. Again, I don’t mean to deny that: here, I simply want to suggest that there is something hopeful and noble about “The Meaning Crisis”: its existence is a testament to our unwillingness to compromise on what we believe is right...
For the whole piece, please visit:
medium.com/p/e38497d31b91
Substack:
open.substack.com/pub/ogrose/p/the-meaning-crisis-as-a-sign-of-hope-e38497d31b91?r=nqh4n&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web
For more on the subject, please see "Is Putin a Thomas More Who Caved?":
open.substack.com/pub/ogrose/p/is-putin-a-thomas-more-who-caved?r=nqh4n&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web
For more by O.G. Rose, visit:
og-rose.com
